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Pens eyeing Suter/Parise...enter Bobby Ryan?

The Pittsburgh Penguins have probably been the team that's made the most noise around the NHL over the past few days.

After trading Jordan Staal to Carolina, the Penguins went on to make two first-round selections on the first night of the draft, then topped it all off by dealing veteran defenseman Zbynek Michalek to the Phoenix Coyotes, in what can only be seen as a salary dump.

That last move by Penguins' GM Ray Shero, has prompted many to start asking whether Shero is done for the offseason, or if he is looking to make another huge splash in the coming weeks.

Logic would certainly dictate he is leaning towards the latter.

As a result, rumors have emerged that the Penguins are the latest players in the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter sweepstakes.

For Pittsburgh fans, this can't be anything but good, right?

I mean, sure, they have to re-sign Sidney Crosby sometime before he becomes an unrestricted free agent next offseason, but seeing as his cap hit already sits at $8.7 million, they probably won't need to use more than $300,000 of their $14.5 million in cap space on their captain.

The same goes for their other superstar center Evgeni Malkin, who takes up the identical amount of cap space as Crosby does.

That leaves well over $10 million of cap space to pursue players like Suter and Parise.

Should Ray Shero scrap any plans to sign Zach Parise and make a play for Bobby Ryan instead?

That, however, may not be the best option for the Penguins.

While Parise is an elite forward who recently led his team to the Stanley Cup Finals, he will, in all likelihood, command nearly $8 million a season for six or seven years on the free agent market.

As for Suter, he'll also be looking for a long-term place to call home and about $7 million per season.

With Pittsburgh already possessing a talented core of young defensemen, and another two taken in this year's entry draft, do the Penguins really need a guy like Ryan Suter to win another championship?

Enter Bobby Ryan.

Now we're talking about a 25-year-old winger who has tallied at least 30 goals in each of the past four seasons. That's a feat that not even Parise has managed.

Ryan would also come with a cap hit about $2 million less than what Parise will probably cost, and is also under contract for another three seasons.

Another potential advantage for the Penguins if they could bring in Bobby Ryan? They could very well be taking him away from their in-state and divisional rival Philadelphia Flyers, who are rumored to be in hot pursuit of the Cherry Hill, NJ native.

What could be better than bringing in a perennial 30 goal scorer, who is still only 25 years old, all while swooping in and plucking him from the clutches of your arch rivals?

We all know by now that the Pens have created quite a bit of cap space after getting rid of Staal and Michalek, and I think we'd all agree that the next step is getting a winger for Crosby, which seems to be where Shero is leaning. I, for one, am I all for the Penguins targeting Parise, that line would be absolutely unstoppable. But this article raises an interesting point about Bobby Ryan. He'll come cheaper and we'll possibly be able to snatch him away from the Flyers. Thoughts?